The Crunch is on

The trouble with animation and special effects is, well, you tend to take the wonders and wizardry for granted after awhile. So the first time you see Bear Spots’ new 30-second premiums for Cap’n Crunch and Blockbuster Video, you think it’s a routine matter. On second reference, however, it’s clear there’s much more going on than initially meets the eye.

The spots – one for broadcast and one for in-store promotion – feature Quaker Oats’ animated cereal pitchman, Cap’n Crunch, seated at a checkout counter in the middle of a Blockbuster video store. He’s talking about how to qualify for a free Blockbuster video rental. When the camera moves from him to the box of Cap’n Crunch cereal on the counter, the box morphs into a videotape box, just long enough so the good captain can explain the contest details.

Meanwhile, behind the mariner, we see live-action shoppers milling about the store and realize, if only dimly on the first pass, that this is what animators and post specialists call seamless integration of live action and animation. It’s also a good example of 3D animation meshed into a live-action scene.

But that’s not all, folks. A little later when a mailing address flashes on-screen, a live-action boy comes tearing on-camera to kick the letters every which way. Tracking the movement of those letters to match the impact of the boy’s various body parts was surely a challenging task.

The version which runs in Blockbuster stores is 38 seconds long and features a different ending. A home video viewer is hunkered down on the couch with the captain for an evening of movie viewing with their favorite snack, yes, Cap’n Crunch. In this scene, the animation is composited, once again, over the live-action background.

Produced for Chicago agency Bayer Bess Vanderwarker, the spots were animated by Scott Glynn and Shane Doyle under Joseph Sherman’s capable direction. Peter Hudecki produced for Bear Spots. Special effects, including the box-to-video morph, come courtesy the deft handling of Prisms software by John Coldrick of Spin Productions, which also handled on-line. Chicago’s What the Hale Music (Ken Hale) provided the tune track and Stan Oda at the Chicago Recording Company did the sound mix. Seattle’s Noren Productions shot the live action. ST